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I am considering (probably won't do it) to fly to Aspen this Spring in my Mooney Ovation, 310HP in "good health". I have done that before in the Winter with a mountain-flying instructor and my then C182RG (also non-turbo), and it was pretty enjoyable and straightforward. However, the weather was great,the air cold, and the instructor kept me below 14kft almost all the time, winding us through beautiful passes. This time I am thinking to just go up to 16.5K ft (17.5k coming back) and use V108 (over BRK, Colorado Springs). I have flow my Ovation to that altitude before a few times, so I know I can get there (and if not, I'll turn around before I hit the high country and land in Colorado Springs. My questions are: Anybody have experience and advice from experience, re: - What's are the go/nogo parameters (winds aloft mostly; of course IFR+IMC at that altitude over mountains is a nonstarter for me). - Any recommendations on performance on takeoff, and how /where to circle/climb to 17.5K feet coming back? Looks like Aspen is surrounded by high mountains and likely lots of traffic. Aspen's (ASE) Obstacle Departure procedure calls for 460' per NM to 14,000 -- I probably cannot make that (800ft per minute or so) but don't intend to depart anyway in IMC; I assume I can get to LINDZ intersection and just circle there in the hold until I get to 16k ft? - Any other tips/recommendations re. operations? My plan is to climb to 16.5K ft (or even 18ft if I can, flying under IFR rules). I have flown over/into mountains quite a bit and have a very healthy respect for downdrafts and mechanical turbulence. Going West from the flatlands I almost always take the Victor airway through Albuquerque, flying at 13K ft coming back. On that route, 40kts wind at altitude is my absolute limit; I have experienced pretty unpleasant downdrafts and turbulence at less than that. In fact, I have experienced mountain waves with downdrafts that made it hard to even stay at 12k ft. I imagine that the weather and turbulence over the really high peaks going into Aspen can get a lot crazier than that, even. Thanks for any pointers; if it's not a good place to go without a Turbo I'll rent a car and drive from the West side of the mountains.... But 35 to 40 mins at high altitude to get directly to Aspen from Colorado Springs is attractive (rather than drive for 3.5 hours; I won't need a rental in Aspen anyway; actually, the drive from Colorado Springs will take as long or longer than the entire flight directly to Aspen; so if the weather is agreeable....)